Eight goats of 7-8 months old and an average body weight （BW） of 20 ± 5.0 kg were used in double 4 × 4 Latin square design. The treatments were the four levels of leucaena meal replacement for soybean meal...Eight goats of 7-8 months old and an average body weight （BW） of 20 ± 5.0 kg were used in double 4 × 4 Latin square design. The treatments were the four levels of leucaena meal replacement for soybean meal in concentrates at 0%, 25%, 50% and 75% of crude protein. The results showed that roughage intake （% BW and g/kgBW^0.75） increased linearly （P 〈 0.01） with increasing levels of leucaena meal while total feed intake was not significantly different among dietary treatments. Similarly, dry matter, organic matter, neutral detergent fiber digestibility and ruminal ammonia nitrogen （NH3-N） were not significantly different among dietary treatments. However, crude protein digestibility, ruminal pH （6 hr after feeding）, nitrogen （N） intake, N absorption, N retention and total volatile fatty acids increased quadratically （P 〈 0.01） with the increasing levels of leucaena meals. It could be concluded that leucaena meal could replace up to 50% of soybean meal in the diet without any negative effect on feed intake, nutrient digestibility and rumen fermentation of meat goats.展开更多
文摘Eight goats of 7-8 months old and an average body weight （BW） of 20 ± 5.0 kg were used in double 4 × 4 Latin square design. The treatments were the four levels of leucaena meal replacement for soybean meal in concentrates at 0%, 25%, 50% and 75% of crude protein. The results showed that roughage intake （% BW and g/kgBW^0.75） increased linearly （P 〈 0.01） with increasing levels of leucaena meal while total feed intake was not significantly different among dietary treatments. Similarly, dry matter, organic matter, neutral detergent fiber digestibility and ruminal ammonia nitrogen （NH3-N） were not significantly different among dietary treatments. However, crude protein digestibility, ruminal pH （6 hr after feeding）, nitrogen （N） intake, N absorption, N retention and total volatile fatty acids increased quadratically （P 〈 0.01） with the increasing levels of leucaena meals. It could be concluded that leucaena meal could replace up to 50% of soybean meal in the diet without any negative effect on feed intake, nutrient digestibility and rumen fermentation of meat goats.
